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This new British musical set in Manchester features the unlikeliest Take That Tribute Band taking the audience on a roller-coaster ride of emotions and events as they hit the highs, tasting success, and the lows, with obstacles they cannot overcome.

The show, written by Danny Brocklehurst (best known for his work on Shameless and Clocking Off), uses Take That鈥檚 back catalogue as the main selling point, following in the footsteps of Mamma Mia and We Will Rock You.

It opens with a proposal, as the two leads Ash and Chloe, played superbly by Dean Chisnall and Nancy Turner, make plans to spend their lives together. But the course of true love never did run smooth and soon Ash becomes involved with impresarios and agents, who offer him a career path that does not include his bride to be.

Never Forget

The love story plays alongside the formation of a Take That tribute band. There is plenty of humour as the various members are recruited and once up and running, some superb musical numbers, the highlight of the first half being the closing number Back For Good, which salutes the original video, complete with rain fall.

The sets get better as the story progresses and the supporting cast boasts some excellent dancers with a credible cameo role from Anita Booth as Ash鈥檚 mother. Toddy Kempner as Ron and Alexis Owen-Hobbs as Annie are also very good, with Alexis鈥檚 dominatrix routine raising the temperature.

However, Nancy Turner is the real star as Chloe. She deserves special praise for her portrayal as the insecure and downtrodden girlfriend. In the second half, she belts out a very emotional Love Ain鈥檛 Here Anymore and is convincing throughout the performance.

It was a shame that other character plotlines do not have more time to develop. Band member Adrian鈥檚 relationship with his wife could have been featured more and I felt that there was more to learn about Jake, Chloe鈥檚 brother.

However, with a running time of nearly two and a half hours, there is still plenty to enjoy, and the songs are all well performed and used to good effect.

Although Take That themselves have distanced themselves from the production, this is an agreeable celebration of their sound and style which ends, predictably, with Never Forget, the cast are joined on stage by a choir who, after waiting in the wings for such a long time, were in fine voice.听听

The musical ended with a standing ovation and the audience remained on their feet to join in with an uplifting medley of Take That numbers to round off a sensational evening.

Never Forget is at the Opera House until Saturday 1 September.